Dampmarkings on walls

[northgate house]

I am struggling to find a suitable/qualified plasterer that specialises in lime plastering in the East Yorkshire area.

Could anyone recommend any??

Many thanks

 

[northgate house]

It's been some time since I posted any comments.

I have finally had an independant survey carried out.

The report suggests that hygroscopic salt contamination is the issue.

They quote excessive hygroscopic salt content within the structure overwhelming the plasters or renders that have been applied.

They say that the house has been subjected to being saturated with salt laden rain over its life (and prior to it being pebble dashed).

They say that no damp proofing will cure the problem and the only solution is to line the surfaces with a plasterable membrane (uPVC).

They also say not all of the walls are suitable for this.

They suggest a cementitious slurry and replastering (lime renovating plaster and skim).

Would this be a good solution.

I look forward to your responses.

 

[Pford75]

They say that no damp proofing will cure the problem and the only solution is to line the surfaces with a plasterable membrane (uPVC).

They also say not all of the walls are suitable for this.

They suggest a cementitious slurry and replastering (lime renovating plaster and skim).

Would this be a good solution.

I look forward to your responses

uPVC - No
cementitious slurry - I'm a little confused...is it cement or lime....it can be a mix of the two, but that rather defeats the breathability objective

As others have suggested in the past, I would want to hack off the tanking/sealant on the walls, allow them to fully dry/breathe and then replaster with lime only.

If you don't allow time for the wall to dry, you risk experiencing a repeat of the current problem.

Cement seems counter-productive to what you are trying to acheive

Just my opinion.
p

 

[Schoolmarm]

Where does the salt laden rain come from? Are you next to the sea?

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes, I was wondering why your particular house should be suffering from the effects of a lifetime of "salt-laden rain". Presumably, this must be a fairly common phenomenon on our small island. I would ask the surveyors for clarification, including how other properties have managed to cope (or maybe they haven't?).

 

[JoceAndChris]

Dear Northgate House

If it makes you feel any better I have exactly the same problem, as do many of us, and it's a hard lesson to not rush in and try to solve things too quickly and make mistakes. I have avoided the DPC merchants and decided to tackle the problem by removing some, or all, of the exterior cement render so that the lovely winds can give it a daily blow-dry. It seems that traditional materials are the only way for your house to function as it was designed.

Good luck!

Joce

 

[Schoolmarm]

No real rush, but the walls are really getting to us now.
Everytime you look at them it really gets you down.
I just really need to put closure on this whole bad episode for both my and my family's sanity.
The product used was alledgedly from a company called biokil crown.
The walls currently have plaster on them.
Thanks

I don't think any of us have exactly the same problem, unless I have misunderstood.

 

[chuckey]

When the walls were replasterd after the injection work, was the correct grade of plaster used?
From scratch your rising damp may have contained soluble hydroscopic salts, thats why they hacked the plaster off to a given height (~1m?). Now the bricks will still contain the hydroscopic salts and unless protected from the water content of your humid internal atmosphere, will cause the salts to leach out and cause marking, that why a special grade of plaster should be used, now it might be that the area of replastering was not big enough or the salts are migrating. From memory the salts tend to be in greater concentration at the upper edge of the rising damp level. Could also be condensation, water ingress from some fault with the external skin of the wall etc.
Frank

 

[northgate house]

It's been some time since I wrote on your forum.

I have now been advised to take off the plaster and apply a waterproof sealant to the walls.

Leave it for up to 2 months and then have the walls replastered.

Does this sound ok.

Many thanks

 

[Gareth Hughes]

It's been some time since I wrote on your forum.

I have now been advised to take off the plaster and apply a waterproof sealant to the walls.

Leave it for up to 2 months and then have the walls replastered.

Does this sound ok.

Many thanks

No, definitely not. "Waterproof" sealant is the last thing you should be thinking of. After all, it's what you had done in the first place, then again when it went wrong.

Back in November, four months ago, you said:

Someone suggested if I could leave the walls until next summer, unfortunatley I need to act faster than that.

Well, the clocks go forward next weekend, it very nearly is "next summer", and if you leave it another two months, it will be May, so you could have taken the more conservative advice back last autumn after all.

You probably won't believe that I take no pleasure in saying "I told you so", but - I told you so.

Legal action against the contractors may be the next course of action, but that won't solve your damp problem.

IMHO, this is one of the most important threads there's ever been on PPUK and this sad saga, which is far from uncommon, should be broadcast far and wide.

 

[JoceAndChris]

It seems an incredible thing to me these companies are so destructive (they all wanted to remove lime plaster in all rooms here up to 1.5 metres) and yet this is never, never talked about amongst ordinary folk. I've told everyone I know about this, most of those people live in old houses, and yet they've never heard of chemical damp-proofing, tanking, etc etc being bad for properties in any sense. When we were looking to buy an old house everyone we knew suggested these means as great solutions for damp.

It seems it's the most enormous con there ever was.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Pop into Lincoln, or Norwich, or Liverpool, or Manchester, or Leeds, or Nottingham, or London, or Exeter, or any town with a river or canal running through it, and walk along the riverside. Note how far up the brick or stone walls of the river channel there is - or rather, isn't - visible evidence of damp (despite those river walls having been there for years).
Then come back and tell me whether rising damp actually exists.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Pop into Lincoln, or Norwich, or Liverpool, or Manchester, or Leeds, or Nottingham, or London, or Exeter, or any town with a river or canal running through it, and walk along the riverside. Note how far up the brick or stone walls of the river channel there is - or rather, isn't - visible evidence of damp (despite those river walls having been there for years).
Then come back and tell me whether rising damp actually exists.

All the damp men who came here said there was rising damp, combined with horizontal damp from inside, downwards damp from the roof and damp blowing off the fields. They covered themselves there didn't they!

Many have said to me "Hold a tissue vertically with the lower edge in water and see the damp rising up it. This is the proof rising damp exists." How do you answer that, when you are just a silly woman, and these damp men have been waving their certificates at you?

Sorry, I'm sure that is a very ignorant question indeed. I can see that a brick would not be as absorbant as a tissue but it is porous.

There was one thing that stopped us from handing over 10k- PPUK.

 

[Matt Green]

Note how far up the brick or stone walls of the river channel there is - or rather, isn't - visible evidence of damp (despite those river walls having been there for years).
Then come back and tell me whether rising damp actually exists.

If you plastered those walls you would see 'evidence of damp' pretty quickly. Stop the water evaporating straight out of the bricks and it will move to find another way out. Including upwards.

there's a massive difference between 'rising damp doesn't exist' (because it's a wooly term and you have to be sure that everyone's talking about the same set of cirumstances and the whole thing gets tedious quickly), and saying 'damp can't rise in brickwork' (because demonstrably it can- there's always a good reason for it to do so though).


M